5 ms·

The Algorithm Design Manual by Steven Skiena Amazing book. Very readable. I highly recommend it. The book has a section call "War story" at the end of each cha

by ioli 5y ago

The Algorithm Design Manual by Steven Skiena Amazing book. Very readable. I highly recommend it. The book has a section call "War story" at the end of each chapter in which Skiena shares his real life experience of when the contents from that particular chapter came in handy for him. Go through it. You won't regret https://www.amazon.com/Algorithm-Design-Manual-Steven-Skiena/dp/1849967202 https://www.amazon.com/Algorithm-Design-Manual-Steven-Skiena...

codegeek 5y ago
Wow. I actually took one of his classes way back at Stony Brook. Great guy.
MonkeyClub 5y ago
I came here precisely to suggest Skiena. Excellent book that gives you a good grounding in both theory and practice, and opens the road for further study, if you're so inclined.
MarvelousWololo 5y ago
Not OP but I’m interested in this subject as well. I took a look at this book and others that are similar and I’ve realized my foundations on math are really lacking to even understand the given examples. Since I only had the opportunity to finish my high school diploma and this was several years ago I wonder if you could have any suggestion to brush my math knowledge up in order to properly understand the examples of these books. The thing for me is that I’m not sure where I should start. Would you know any resource to introduce me to the math foundations in order to understand such texts? Or maybe math concepts that I should study before I dig in. I really appreciate it. Thanks.
- dragontamer 5y ago
  Art of Computer programming starts at a high school level. It's very rigorous and considered one of the more difficult reads. But if you start at chapter 1 page 1, it covers all the math you'll ever need for the rest of the books (which is sufficient maths to reach masters or even PH.d level comp sci) I know I've recommended it to high schoolers. A lot of math is just getting used to the nomenclature and vocabulary. The sooner you get used to rigor the better
  - exdsq 5y ago
    AoCP is an absurdly inefficient way to learn algorithms that 99.999% of people won’t need
    - LAIFscratch 5y ago
      TAOCP is probably the best book if you approach it as infotainment/puzzles casual reading on the weekend reading about the history of trees and their mathematical properties kind of reading not anxiety filled interview passing cramming. Even autodiff online algorithms is in there something heavily used right now.
      - exdsq 5y ago
        I've bought them and looked through it but if someone asks how they should go about learning algorithms for leetcode there are so many better options thank Knuth. That is years of effort to get through.
    - dragontamer 5y ago
      Most algorithm books don't cover the math like summations or generating functions. Chapter one of TAOCP for better or worse, is a very rigorous mathematics introduction. I'm not recommending it for it's algorithms (which are unfortunately somewhat out of date). I'm recommending it because it's an incredible mathematics introduction, albeit a very difficult one.
      - 56V9qtdGKWy4q8p 5y ago
        Can you elaborate on "out of date"? I've seen a lot of books considered out of date because of their publishing date, but to what's exactly being compared to be considered so?
        exdsq 5y ago
        The obvious example for me is the chapter on tape merging
- wheelinsupial 5y ago
  I'm not sure if this is universally true or not, but the algorithms courses at the universities I'm familiar with require a course in discrete math as a prerequisite. You can find Discrete and Combinatorial Mathematics (an Applied Introduction), 5th Edition, Ralph P. Grimaldi online and an answer key can be found online as well. (This book covers two discrete math courses. Chapters 1-5, 7, 8, 12 is a first course in discrete math. I'm not sure what chapters the second course covers, but that requires linear algebra as a prerequisite.) It's not perfect, but it's a start. I think you need to be familiar with some high school algebra, exponents, and logarithms. You can find some review information in the appendix. If you have troubles with recalling that information, then you can try Khan academy. (It really is an if you don't use it, you lose it situation with much of math.) You're probably aware of this already, but most people don't read the book and come away with the knowledge required to solve the problems. You'll need to work through the examples in the chapter, be able to recall the definitions and theorems, and then work the exercises at the back of the book. I think the discussion of proof methods is pretty poor in the book. You can find many intro to proof method type supplemental notes online to help fill in the details. There really is so much information out there that you can pretty much always find an alternative explanation or viewpoint for undergrad level material. Many profs will post their own lecture notes, homework, and solutions. There are some math forums that have explanations. So find a book you're reasonably comfortable with and supplement it with extra material.
- LAIFscratch 5y ago
  The best book if you have any programming background is 'Mathematical Modeling and Applied Calculus' by Joel Kilty and Alex M. McAllister reviewed here: https://www.maa.org/press/maa-reviews/mathematical-modeling-and-applied-calculus https://www.maa.org/press/maa-reviews/mathematical-modeling-... There's a small workshop for it here: https://learnaifromscratch.github.io/calculus.html https://learnaifromscratch.github.io/calculus.html throwing in some youtube tutorials. The book presents everything as functions and their parameters, like linear functions, trig, sigmoidal, e and logarithms, you learn all the parameters to these functions and can type into desmos online graph to see what they're doing visually. You don't have to do the whole thing just use it for background material when an algorithm text uses calculus methods like L'Hopital's rule. Poh-Shen Loh has a discrete math course open on his youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/DailyChallengewithPoShenLoh/search?query=discrete%20math https://www.youtube.com/c/DailyChallengewithPoShenLoh/search... you can use the book he recommends to look up anything that is assumed knowledge in lectures. Discrete Mathematics, by L. Lovász, J. Pelikán, and K. Vesztergombi. A book called Asymptopia by Spencer is well done too, good chapters for learning everything you want about big-O/omega/theta some topics are advanced and some anyone can do.
- nickkell 5y ago
  I had exactly the same issue with this book. It brought back memories of seeing teachers solve problems on the board and skipping some obvious (to the teacher at least) step. This prompted me to check out khan academy. Man, that is an incredible resource. I really envy the schoolchildren of today that have instant access to this incredibly smart tutor, who can be rewinded at the touch of a button.
- joemidgett 5y ago
  Check out the course 6.042J from MIT (Mathematics for Computer Science). https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-042j-mathematics-for-computer-science-fall-2010/ https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-compu...
- gtirloni 5y ago
  This is a good starting point: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7wAPgl1JVvUEb0dIygHzO4698tmcwLk9 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7wAPgl1JVvUEb0dIygHzO469...
- ramesh31 5y ago
  >Since I only had the opportunity to finish my high school diploma and this was several years ago I wonder if you could have any suggestion to brush my math knowledge up in order to properly understand the examples of these books. You should really consider taking a few community college math courses if you're serious. Math is extremely difficult to learn on your own. Not only because of not knowing what you don't know, but because it requires intense effort and repetition which is very hard to force yourself to do. You can work through the concepts and delude yourself into thinking you understand something when really you're just hand waving it. Taking an actual course and being faced with the gaps of your knowledge by someone else is very humbling and essential to actually learning it.
  - HarryHirsch 5y ago
    That of course assumes the community college is serious about its mission to educate. Most of the students just want to pass because the math course is required for this or that vocational program, and in this age it's wiser to humour the students and wave them through.
  - mathhh 5y ago
    > You can work through the concepts and delude yourself into thinking you understand something when really you're just hand waving it I keep seeing this and I don't quite understand how this one works. If I were studying math on my own (which I've done and still do), I'd do the following: 1. Pick a book. Say, Rudin's Principles of Mathematical Analysis[0]. Read a section, then attempt problems. Pick a problem. Say, "prove {1/n: n is natural} U{0} is compact directly from the definition(not using Heine-Borel)". It's guaranteed your "proof" is not a proof. 2. Compare your solution to existing solution manuals or ask a question on MSE[1]. Since the given book by Rudin is super-massively famous, each question has probably been asked/answered about a bagillion times each on MSE, so just searching MSE alone would likely to spit out many answers to your questions. People on MSE will tell you exactly why your "solution" is wrong and where you tripped up. Sometimes even the clarifying answers are hard to understand. But then you can ask new questions, think more, correct your misconceptions until it all finally clicks. Do that with all the rest of the problems[2]. I don't see how the process above is delusional. [0] This book is not a realistic fit for a novice, though. Instead, one would start with books like [3], [4], [5], [6] to learn how to prove things and think like a mathematician would. [1] https://math.stackexchange.com/ https://math.stackexchange.com/ [2] In reality, the more math you see and do, the more mathematically mature and less dependent on others(to check your work) you become. In fact, if you can solve any problem in "B@by Rudin" and some famous abstract algebra textbook (say, Dummit & Foote's "Abstract Algebra") cold, you're way ahead of most any undergrad math major in the world! Because standards on undergrad math majors are not that high, nor that brutal the world over no matter what they say. If, additionally, you can solve any given problem in a book like, say, Hatcher's "Algebraic Topology" or any other famous grad level textbooks on, say, differential geometry or, uhh, functional analysis, you're officially in the big leagues. Again, if you're worried about being delusional about your proofs, you can always present them on MSE. [3] "Book of Proof" by Richard Hammach. It's online free. https://www.people.vcu.edu/~rhammack/BookOfProof/ https://www.people.vcu.edu/~rhammack/BookOfProof/ [4] "Discrete Math" by Susanna Epp https://www.google.com/books/edition/Discrete_Mathematics_with_Applications/_341EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover https://www.google.com/books/edition/Discrete_Mathematics_wi... [5] "How to Think About Analysis" by Lara Alcock https://www.google.com/books/edition/How_to_Think_about_Analysis/n0tuBAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover https://www.google.com/books/edition/How_to_Think_about_Anal... [6] "Linear Algebra" by Kuldeep Singh https://www.google.com/books/edition/Linear_Algebra/BJNoAgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover https://www.google.com/books/edition/Linear_Algebra/BJNoAgAA...
- bakuninsbart 5y ago
  Concrete Mathematics by Graham/Knuth/Patashnik is still a great resource on the kind of mathematics and mathematical thinking we need in CS, but I'm not sure if it is fully accessible with a high-school level of Maths. To be perfectly honest, I doubt I would've ever gotten through college-level maths without being forced to do it, as it can be very frustrating and difficult in the beginning. Unless you are quite confident in your self-discipline and enthusiasm to learn maths, rather than books I'd recommend something interactive (online course, forums, challenges). If you are interested in a starting point to learn mathematics that are relevant for CS, I'd start with propositional logic and boolean algebra, as well as proofs via induction.
omerhj 5y ago
I bought the PDF last year for $7 (a very steep discount) during Apress/Springer's Black Friday sale. If you don't need the book right now or are on a budget, it may be worth waiting until next week in case they repeat the offer.
lma21 5y ago
It's unfortunate that it costs 77$ :( Edit: unfortunate for me ofc.
- bufferoverflow 5y ago
  $30 used on ebay
- cols 5y ago
  Goodwillbooks.com had it for $11.50. As an aside, I really love that website. I am not too picky about the books I buy being in perfect condition, so it works out well for me. YMMV.
clumsysmurf 5y ago
Note, there seems to be a 3rd Edition in 2020 https://www.amazon.com/Algorithm-Design-Manual-Computer-Science/dp/3030542556 https://www.amazon.com/Algorithm-Design-Manual-Computer-Scie...
musicale 5y ago
> The Algorithm Design Manual by Steven Skiena And his CSE 373 course lectures: https://www3.cs.stonybrook.edu/~skiena/373/videos/ https://www3.cs.stonybrook.edu/~skiena/373/videos/

by ioli 5y ago

codegeek 5y ago

Wow. I actually took one of his classes way back at Stony Brook. Great guy.

MonkeyClub 5y ago

I came here precisely to suggest Skiena. Excellent book that gives you a good grounding in both theory and practice, and opens the road for further study, if you're so inclined.

MarvelousWololo 5y ago

Not OP but I’m interested in this subject as well. I took a look at this book and others that are similar and I’ve realized my foundations on math are really lacking to even understand the given examples. Since I only had the opportunity to finish my high school diploma and this was several years ago I wonder if you could have any suggestion to brush my math knowledge up in order to properly understand the examples of these books. The thing for me is that I’m not sure where I should start. Would you know any resource to introduce me to the math foundations in order to understand such texts? Or maybe math concepts that I should study before I dig in. I really appreciate it. Thanks.

dragontamer 5y ago
Art of Computer programming starts at a high school level. It's very rigorous and considered one of the more difficult reads. But if you start at chapter 1 page 1, it covers all the math you'll ever need for the rest of the books (which is sufficient maths to reach masters or even PH.d level comp sci) I know I've recommended it to high schoolers. A lot of math is just getting used to the nomenclature and vocabulary. The sooner you get used to rigor the better
- exdsq 5y ago
  AoCP is an absurdly inefficient way to learn algorithms that 99.999% of people won’t need
  - LAIFscratch 5y ago
    TAOCP is probably the best book if you approach it as infotainment/puzzles casual reading on the weekend reading about the history of trees and their mathematical properties kind of reading not anxiety filled interview passing cramming. Even autodiff online algorithms is in there something heavily used right now.
    - exdsq 5y ago
      I've bought them and looked through it but if someone asks how they should go about learning algorithms for leetcode there are so many better options thank Knuth. That is years of effort to get through.
  - dragontamer 5y ago
    Most algorithm books don't cover the math like summations or generating functions. Chapter one of TAOCP for better or worse, is a very rigorous mathematics introduction. I'm not recommending it for it's algorithms (which are unfortunately somewhat out of date). I'm recommending it because it's an incredible mathematics introduction, albeit a very difficult one.
    - 56V9qtdGKWy4q8p 5y ago
      Can you elaborate on "out of date"? I've seen a lot of books considered out of date because of their publishing date, but to what's exactly being compared to be considered so?
      - exdsq 5y ago
        The obvious example for me is the chapter on tape merging
wheelinsupial 5y ago
I'm not sure if this is universally true or not, but the algorithms courses at the universities I'm familiar with require a course in discrete math as a prerequisite. You can find Discrete and Combinatorial Mathematics (an Applied Introduction), 5th Edition, Ralph P. Grimaldi online and an answer key can be found online as well. (This book covers two discrete math courses. Chapters 1-5, 7, 8, 12 is a first course in discrete math. I'm not sure what chapters the second course covers, but that requires linear algebra as a prerequisite.) It's not perfect, but it's a start. I think you need to be familiar with some high school algebra, exponents, and logarithms. You can find some review information in the appendix. If you have troubles with recalling that information, then you can try Khan academy. (It really is an if you don't use it, you lose it situation with much of math.) You're probably aware of this already, but most people don't read the book and come away with the knowledge required to solve the problems. You'll need to work through the examples in the chapter, be able to recall the definitions and theorems, and then work the exercises at the back of the book. I think the discussion of proof methods is pretty poor in the book. You can find many intro to proof method type supplemental notes online to help fill in the details. There really is so much information out there that you can pretty much always find an alternative explanation or viewpoint for undergrad level material. Many profs will post their own lecture notes, homework, and solutions. There are some math forums that have explanations. So find a book you're reasonably comfortable with and supplement it with extra material.
LAIFscratch 5y ago
The best book if you have any programming background is 'Mathematical Modeling and Applied Calculus' by Joel Kilty and Alex M. McAllister reviewed here: https://www.maa.org/press/maa-reviews/mathematical-modeling-and-applied-calculus https://www.maa.org/press/maa-reviews/mathematical-modeling-... There's a small workshop for it here: https://learnaifromscratch.github.io/calculus.html https://learnaifromscratch.github.io/calculus.html throwing in some youtube tutorials. The book presents everything as functions and their parameters, like linear functions, trig, sigmoidal, e and logarithms, you learn all the parameters to these functions and can type into desmos online graph to see what they're doing visually. You don't have to do the whole thing just use it for background material when an algorithm text uses calculus methods like L'Hopital's rule. Poh-Shen Loh has a discrete math course open on his youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/DailyChallengewithPoShenLoh/search?query=discrete%20math https://www.youtube.com/c/DailyChallengewithPoShenLoh/search... you can use the book he recommends to look up anything that is assumed knowledge in lectures. Discrete Mathematics, by L. Lovász, J. Pelikán, and K. Vesztergombi. A book called Asymptopia by Spencer is well done too, good chapters for learning everything you want about big-O/omega/theta some topics are advanced and some anyone can do.
nickkell 5y ago
I had exactly the same issue with this book. It brought back memories of seeing teachers solve problems on the board and skipping some obvious (to the teacher at least) step. This prompted me to check out khan academy. Man, that is an incredible resource. I really envy the schoolchildren of today that have instant access to this incredibly smart tutor, who can be rewinded at the touch of a button.
joemidgett 5y ago
Check out the course 6.042J from MIT (Mathematics for Computer Science). https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-042j-mathematics-for-computer-science-fall-2010/ https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-compu...
gtirloni 5y ago
This is a good starting point: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7wAPgl1JVvUEb0dIygHzO4698tmcwLk9 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7wAPgl1JVvUEb0dIygHzO469...
ramesh31 5y ago
>Since I only had the opportunity to finish my high school diploma and this was several years ago I wonder if you could have any suggestion to brush my math knowledge up in order to properly understand the examples of these books. You should really consider taking a few community college math courses if you're serious. Math is extremely difficult to learn on your own. Not only because of not knowing what you don't know, but because it requires intense effort and repetition which is very hard to force yourself to do. You can work through the concepts and delude yourself into thinking you understand something when really you're just hand waving it. Taking an actual course and being faced with the gaps of your knowledge by someone else is very humbling and essential to actually learning it.
- HarryHirsch 5y ago
  That of course assumes the community college is serious about its mission to educate. Most of the students just want to pass because the math course is required for this or that vocational program, and in this age it's wiser to humour the students and wave them through.
- mathhh 5y ago
  > You can work through the concepts and delude yourself into thinking you understand something when really you're just hand waving it I keep seeing this and I don't quite understand how this one works. If I were studying math on my own (which I've done and still do), I'd do the following: 1. Pick a book. Say, Rudin's Principles of Mathematical Analysis[0]. Read a section, then attempt problems. Pick a problem. Say, "prove {1/n: n is natural} U{0} is compact directly from the definition(not using Heine-Borel)". It's guaranteed your "proof" is not a proof. 2. Compare your solution to existing solution manuals or ask a question on MSE[1]. Since the given book by Rudin is super-massively famous, each question has probably been asked/answered about a bagillion times each on MSE, so just searching MSE alone would likely to spit out many answers to your questions. People on MSE will tell you exactly why your "solution" is wrong and where you tripped up. Sometimes even the clarifying answers are hard to understand. But then you can ask new questions, think more, correct your misconceptions until it all finally clicks. Do that with all the rest of the problems[2]. I don't see how the process above is delusional. [0] This book is not a realistic fit for a novice, though. Instead, one would start with books like [3], [4], [5], [6] to learn how to prove things and think like a mathematician would. [1] https://math.stackexchange.com/ https://math.stackexchange.com/ [2] In reality, the more math you see and do, the more mathematically mature and less dependent on others(to check your work) you become. In fact, if you can solve any problem in "B@by Rudin" and some famous abstract algebra textbook (say, Dummit & Foote's "Abstract Algebra") cold, you're way ahead of most any undergrad math major in the world! Because standards on undergrad math majors are not that high, nor that brutal the world over no matter what they say. If, additionally, you can solve any given problem in a book like, say, Hatcher's "Algebraic Topology" or any other famous grad level textbooks on, say, differential geometry or, uhh, functional analysis, you're officially in the big leagues. Again, if you're worried about being delusional about your proofs, you can always present them on MSE. [3] "Book of Proof" by Richard Hammach. It's online free. https://www.people.vcu.edu/~rhammack/BookOfProof/ https://www.people.vcu.edu/~rhammack/BookOfProof/ [4] "Discrete Math" by Susanna Epp https://www.google.com/books/edition/Discrete_Mathematics_with_Applications/_341EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover https://www.google.com/books/edition/Discrete_Mathematics_wi... [5] "How to Think About Analysis" by Lara Alcock https://www.google.com/books/edition/How_to_Think_about_Analysis/n0tuBAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover https://www.google.com/books/edition/How_to_Think_about_Anal... [6] "Linear Algebra" by Kuldeep Singh https://www.google.com/books/edition/Linear_Algebra/BJNoAgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover https://www.google.com/books/edition/Linear_Algebra/BJNoAgAA...
bakuninsbart 5y ago
Concrete Mathematics by Graham/Knuth/Patashnik is still a great resource on the kind of mathematics and mathematical thinking we need in CS, but I'm not sure if it is fully accessible with a high-school level of Maths. To be perfectly honest, I doubt I would've ever gotten through college-level maths without being forced to do it, as it can be very frustrating and difficult in the beginning. Unless you are quite confident in your self-discipline and enthusiasm to learn maths, rather than books I'd recommend something interactive (online course, forums, challenges). If you are interested in a starting point to learn mathematics that are relevant for CS, I'd start with propositional logic and boolean algebra, as well as proofs via induction.

omerhj 5y ago

I bought the PDF last year for $7 (a very steep discount) during Apress/Springer's Black Friday sale. If you don't need the book right now or are on a budget, it may be worth waiting until next week in case they repeat the offer.

lma21 5y ago

It's unfortunate that it costs 77$ :( Edit: unfortunate for me ofc.

bufferoverflow 5y ago
$30 used on ebay
cols 5y ago
Goodwillbooks.com had it for $11.50. As an aside, I really love that website. I am not too picky about the books I buy being in perfect condition, so it works out well for me. YMMV.

clumsysmurf 5y ago

Note, there seems to be a 3rd Edition in 2020 https://www.amazon.com/Algorithm-Design-Manual-Computer-Science/dp/3030542556 https://www.amazon.com/Algorithm-Design-Manual-Computer-Scie...

musicale 5y ago

> The Algorithm Design Manual by Steven Skiena And his CSE 373 course lectures: https://www3.cs.stonybrook.edu/~skiena/373/videos/ https://www3.cs.stonybrook.edu/~skiena/373/videos/